We Shouldn’t Be Surprised By Green On Blue In Afghanistan At All

We shouldn’t be surprised by “green on blue” attacks in Afghanistan at all.

The announcement Minister of Defence Jonathon Coleman made with US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel that bilateral relations between the US and New Zealand and an RNZN ship will be permitted to dock at Pearl Harbor instead of the commercial port is even more interesting.

It points to how policy is developed and implemented in Wellington in such a way that the opinions of the public are essentially irrelevant. How many people would vote for something like that if it came down to it? Do you remember the “gone by lunchtime” disaster for National?

Because hardly anyone cares about foreign policy or defence policy, the only time it gets in the media is when something goes wrong like a “green on blue” incident.

I’m not convinced that the benefits of closer integration with the US on defence matters are worth the costs. Why? Because current US policy in the Middle East is most charitably described as a complete failure.

The fact that the Afghan military still can’t stop Taliban infiltrations into its ranks over a decade into an occupation should make you realise how costly further US geopolitical entanglement could end up being.